From the very beginning, I have loved, and been fascinated by the nervous system. It’s the seat of both primal function and abstract thought, yet so much of how it functions is still unknown. My curiosity brought me to Western University in London, Ontario, where I completed a Bachelor’s degree in physiology and psychology. For my fourth year thesis project, I worked with Dr. Arthur Brown, investigating the environment of the spinal cord after injury. The creation of a glial scar around the injury site is inhibitory to the regrowth of axons, and is largely driven by the up regulation of the gene Sox9. Therefore, I compared the behavioural recovery of mice with a Sox9 knockout to a control group.
I loved my project, but was more interested in cognitive function; specifically, the neurodegeneration seen in patients with Alzheimer’s Disease, and how this phenotype might be halted and perhaps even reversed. This interest guided me to the lab of Dr. Jane Roskams in beautiful British Columbia, where I will be completing my Master’s degree and continuing to explore the many intricacies of the nervous system.
From the very beginning, I have loved, and been fascinated by the nervous system. It’s the seat of both primal function and abstract thought, yet so much of how it functions is still unknown. My curiosity brought me to Western University in London, Ontario, where I completed a Bachelor’s degree in physiology and psychology. For my fourth year thesis project, I worked with Dr. Arthur Brown, investigating the environment of the spinal cord after injury. The creation of a glial scar around the injury site is inhibitory to the regrowth of axons, and is largely driven by the up regulation of the gene Sox9. Therefore, I compared the behavioural recovery of mice with a Sox9 knockout to a control group.